Before You Knew
by cowgirlangel95
Summary: As a teacher, Cory would know the reason why Lucas was kicked out of school. But he seems to know more than what would be on a student record. Did he cross the formal line between teacher and student for Lucas? Chapter 1: set after the pilot; Chapter 2: set after Girl Meets Flaws.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hey all! How do you like premiere week so far? Hope you're enjoying it as much as I am! This idea floated into my mind soon after I watched Secret of Life, and I hope you enjoy it.**_

 _ **Warning: Does contain some spoilers from Girl Meets Secret Life and Boy Meets World's episode: Everybody Loves Stuart. You have been warned!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World**_

Lucas slowly opened the back door to his history teacher's classroom. His felt his stomach starting to churn as he stepped inside while his confusion continued to grow. _Two days. Two days at my new school and I'm already being called in after class. What did I do?_ his mind raced. No matter how hard he tried to push these thoughts out of his mind, he found that he couldn't. What he did a year ago continued to haunt him, and he had a strong feeling that's why he was here now. _But the question is, why? I haven't done_ anything _, have I?_

His eyes landed on Mr. Matthews, who was currently cleaning the blackboard after a long day of lessons. Lucas was about to clear his throat to let his teacher know he was there, but Cory's voice filled the room. "Have a seat, Mr. Friar. I'll be with you in a minute."

Despite the fact Mr. Matthews' back was facing him, Lucas nodded and took his usual seat. To him, it seemed that the history teacher was taking much more time than a minute to finish. _But that may be because I'm dreading this upcoming conversation…_ he reasoned with himself.

Finally, Mr. Matthews set down the eraser and began to walk towards Lucas, picking up a manila folder as he passed by his desk. As he watched his teacher open it, Lucas began to realize what Mr. Matthews held in his hand, and his heart started to race.

His academic record.

Lucas felt the temperature in the room increase exponentially as he watched Mr. Matthews step closer to him. He knew that, by this point, all of his teachers knew about what had happened. It was part of their job to know. _But why does he have it in his hands right now?_ he wondered, and not knowing why scared him.

The curly haired teacher closed the manila folder, sat upon the desk in front of him, and smiled. "How are you, Mr. Friar?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow as his confusion continued to grow. "I'm not sure I follow, sir?"

Cory chuckled as he shook his head. "Let me elaborate. You see, in this folder describes one person. A person that is greatly different from the one I see sitting in front of me. This person in here, didn't really care about school from what I can tell by looking at his grades. And the person seemed to get into his fair share of trouble. Now, the person I have gotten to know these past couple of days cares about his schoolwork and does his best to steer clear of getting into any type of conflict. This change in behavior can either be a red flag or a genuine act."

"Are you asking me this because of my… friendship with your daughter?" Lucas asked.

Mr. Matthews' head bobbed from side to side. "A bit," he replied. He couldn't deny wanting to protect Riley at all. "Partly because I'm her father and I want to look out for her. The other reason being I'm a teacher who cares for his students. Also, I know that a piece of paper can say something, but it doesn't always give the full story."

Lucas felt his heart begin to drop as his eyes shifted their focus to his desk. _How is he able to pinpoint this so accurately?_ "You're right…" he trailed. "It's not the whole story."

He watched his teacher drop his record onto the floor. "Then tell me what happened."

At first, Lucas hesitated. He wasn't all too eager to be telling someone he barely knew what he did. _However, it's a step in the right direction for a fresh start. Admitting your downfalls; admitting you're human,_ a voice reasoned.

"Alright… back in Texas I knew I had the potential to be a great student, but I didn't particularly care. I figured after I graduated I would inherit the farm and that would be the end of that, so I saw no point in trying.

"I also had a friend who would always speak before he thought anything through. Then, he would rely on me to get him out of the situation he worked his way into. There were quite a few minor scuffles, but nothing too serious. Then at the beginning of last year, he really got himself into some big trouble. All I wanted to do was to try and protect him, but I got… a bit carried away. I let my anger blind me. The other guy ended up in the hospital, and I got kicked out of school. I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it was all I could think of at the time!" he explained. Lucas paused as he watched Mr. Matthews' expression change slightly as he tried to blink back his own tears. Despite the fact it happened over a year ago, the pain he felt when he was talking about was still fresh. "I'm not proud of what I did, sir. Coming here is a fresh start. Would I have preferred going somewhere in Texas? Yeah. But my parents didn't think it was best, so we came here instead."

After a brief moment of silence, Cory spoke. "You know, you remind me of someone I know," he commented as he crossed his arms.

"Who?"

"Me."

Lucas' eyes widened and he nearly fell out of his chair when he heard Mr. Matthews' response. "What?"

"I did something similar. Some people may even say what I did was worse. Back in my first year of college, my friends and I had this professor. We all thought he was the coolest guy ever. He was so different from any teacher we had before, and we all liked that. Not too long into the semester, he dropped by my fiancé's dorm to go over a paper she had written, and ended up making a pass at her. Luckily I dropped by before anything else happened, but she was very uncomfortable with the whole situation. The next day at the Student Union, I asked to speak with him, and I told him to stop. He said he wasn't, and there was nothing I could do about it. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I struck him and went flying through the Student Union doors. Long story short, there was a hearing, and I only got suspended for a day. But it could have been a lot worse."

It took Lucas a few moments to absorb the whole story, but when he did, he asked, "What are you trying to tell me, sir? I'm not sure I understand."

Mr. Matthews smiled as he began to explain. "I'm saying that the person you think would be the least likely of people to help you, might have some experience in what you've gone through. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask, alright?"

For the first time in their conversation, Lucas made eye contact with him. "Even if I'm asking you?"

Cory nodded. "I'm always here for any student who needs help."

Lucas smiled as he felt a huge weight being lifted off of his shoulders. "Thanks, Mr. Matthews."

 _ **A/N #2: Let me know what you thought of it! ~cowgirlangel95 out!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Okay, I originally intended for this fic to be a one shot and I was going to leave it at that. But after doing some thinking, and some people wanting more, I realized I could add one more chapter to it. Anyway, enjoy!**_

Lucas sat on the bench in the hallway long after everyone had left. He should be long gone from these halls, but his disgust had him glued to his current spot. For some reason, it hit him harder today than it did the previous day, which to him was ironic. If anything, Lucas would have thought almost going through the motions for the first time in nearly a year and a half, in front of his friends no less, would have knocked him onto the floor. But all he saw was red. Even after Maya tried to stop him, all he saw was red. Luckily he remembered to use his words, but it could have ended differently… badly. The color eased from his eyes as time passed, but it didn't clearly go away until Mr. Matthews told him people changed. That's when everything hit him. People change. He changed… and he almost went back.

He would never forget the look on Billy's face when he pushed him up against the wall. This was not the friend Billy had grown to know. It was someone Lucas had thought he had managed to leave behind; however, it was obvious that he hadn't. That other person was just below the surface, ready to strike whenever any harm, whether verbal or physical, happened to his friends.

 _I thought for sure I had it under control,_ he thought as he recalled his answer to Maya wanting him to 'take care of' whoever had done this to Farkle. What he thought in that moment came back to the front of his mind. _Good people don't resort to the methods of their enemies… boy did I learn that firsthand. Guess I don't after all._

Lucas wiped his forehead at where his flaw was written earlier that day. _Mr. Perfect… ironic, isn't it?_

"Mr. Friar?"

Hearing his name being called caused Lucas to jump and look for the source, only to find Mr. Matthews standing nearby. He saw his history teacher grimace as he stepped closer.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Shouldn't you be home by now?"

Lucas nodded as he looked down at the floor and clasped his hands. "I should be, but something has been keeping me here."

Cory raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"I'm not exactly proud with the way I handled myself while trying to help out Farkle these past couple of days."

Mr. Matthews grew even more confused. From what he saw, Lucas did everything that was _best_ for Farkle. "I'm not sure I understand, Mr. Friar. All I saw was someone trying to do his best in helping his best friend out."

Lucas closed his eyes for a moment in shame. "You didn't see what almost happened in gym class yesterday. I saw red, and I almost beat up one of my own friends because of it. The only reason why that _didn't_ happen was because Maya jumped on me and repeated something _I_ said to her not twenty four hours prior."

"And that would be?"

"I'm paraphrasing here, but good people don't resort to their enemies methods. Guess I'm no better than my enemies. I thought I had it under control, but I guess I don't."

Cory sighed as he took a step closer. "Lucas, I know it's been a while since the incident occurred, but it's still going to take some time before everything is sorted out. It's not like flipping a switch." Mr. Matthews paused and looked at Lucas. The young teen's expression hadn't changed at all. It was still full of disappointment and disgust of himself. "Look, it may not seem like it at the moment, but not taking a swing at Billy is a huge improvement. It's still going to take some time to be able to manage your anger, so don't take it out on yourself."

Silence fell over the two. The only things that Lucas heard were all the thoughts rattling around in his mind. What Mr. Matthews said was true. It was an improvement. But for some reason, Lucas thought he could do better. He thought he _was_ doing better.

"If it's such an improvement, then why do I still feel so terrible about it?" Lucas asked.

Mr. Matthews shrugged. "The only person that can tell you that is you. It may be because you thought you were in control and found yourself regressing, or it could be for another reason entirely."

Lucas made eye contact with his teacher. "Aren't I? Regressing, that is?"

"Personally, I don't think so," Mr. Matthews responded. He saw confusion cloud over Lucas' eyes, so he continued. "You see, ever since you came here, you hadn't face a situation to test to see if you have indeed left behind the person you knew. And now you have. How often did you get into these situations back in Texas?"

Lucas looked back at the floor. "More than I'd care to admit, sir."

"And if there was a break in between scuffles, what would happen if you were faced with a similar condition a year ago?"

"I probably would have done what I always did."

Mr. Matthews smiled. "There's your answer, Lucas. You have changed. Maybe not as quickly as you would have liked; but you have."

Lucas mused over the history teacher's words, and realized that Mr. Matthews was right. How could he know for sure that he had changed if there was no one to test him? He still wasn't thrilled at how close he had come to being his old self again, but it was a step in the right direction.

"Thanks, Mr. Matthews."

"No problem. Now go on, get out of here," the teacher smiled.

"Actually, I'd like to stay here for a while," Lucas responded.

Mr. Matthews shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'll see you tomorrow," he responded, and then headed out of the building.

Lucas let out his breath as he looked around the hall. He had changed, and it wasn't just because he wanted to. All the people that were around him helped him become who he was now.

The people around you help to shape you into who you are.

 _Al fin._

 _ **A/N #2: Alright, that's it for this one! Let me know what you thought of it :) ~cowgirlangel95 out!**_


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